MCD House adjournment: AAP, BJP protest against each other

While AAP raised slogans against the BJP, the saffron party alleged AAP was delaying the mayoral election due to an internal rift

The AAP staged a protest near the BJP headquarters on Tuesday, a day after the presiding officer of the Delhi municipal House announced that members nominated by the L-G will be allowed to vote in the mayoral election.

Carrying placards, several AAP leaders and workers gathered at Rouse Avenue road and raised slogans against the BJP.

Security around the BJP headquarters was beefed up with heavy police presence seen in the area and multiple barricades erected at Rouse Avenue road.

Also Read | Municipal House fails to elect Delhi mayor for third time in a month; AAP cries foul, to move SC

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House failed to elect a mayor even in the third attempt following a ruckus on Monday after Presiding Officer Satya Sharma said that the aldermen nominated by Lieutenant Governor (L-G) will vote in the elections.

The AAP said it would move the Supreme Court so that the mayoral polls can be held in a "court-monitored manner".

Meanwhile, BJP leaders, including party councillors, MPs and MLAs, staged a protest near the AAP office here on Tuesday, accusing the party of disrupting the mayoral election in the MCD House meeting.

Leading the protest outside AAP headquarters on DDU Marg, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party was delaying the mayoral election because of an internal rift.

West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma slammed the AAP over its opposition to voting rights given to aldermen, saying it was not written anywhere that they can not vote in the election of the mayor.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and MLA Vijender Gupta were present among others in the protest.

The first two sessions of the MCD House -- held on January 6 and January 24 -- were adjourned by the presiding officer following a ruckus and acrimonious exchanges between the members of the BJP and the AAP.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls. However, it's been two months since the municipal elections were held on December 4 and Delhi is yet to get a mayor.